Monday, December 04, 2006

Hey, when did Gary Danielson sign on to be the official University of Florida announcer? What's that? He's not? Boy, would never have known it from listening to the second half of the SEC Championship game yesterday. Gary head his head so far up the Gators' ass, I thought maybe Urban Meyer was holding one of his kids hostage.

And it was an absolute embarrassment to the sports broadcasting profession.

It's one thing for the guys calling the game to give their opinion on who should get the BCS title nod, but for someone to actively lobby for an entire half - as Danielson did in the third and fourth quarters - is totally unprofessional. Maybe I'm wrong, but I didn't think such shilling was what the broadcast team is supposed to do during the game they're calling!

If you're the guy back in the studio or doing some wrap-up show, get on your soapbox all you want. But as one of the two supposedly professional, allegedly unbiased announcers for a national network, to openly shill for the team that just happens to be in the conference whose games are televised by the network that pays your check is totally bush.

I mean, the game was on CBS, right? Or was that the Gator Network, because it was hard to tell during Gary's slurp job. Then again, since CBS televises the SEC games, does that make them one and the same?

The worst of his complete hack-job was when he "compared" Michigan's schedule with Florida, giving the advantage of a win or loss to one team or the other. While the exercise itself is subjective to begin with, Danielson matched the schedules up in such a way that was ridiculous. Even worse, game results that were correct to have been compared were "awarded" as a plus to Florida which made no sense.

For example, according to Danielson's "expert" analysis," he called Michigan's 20 point victory over Vandy a "push" with Florida's six point win over the Commodores (in which Vandy outgained the Gators). And in comparing Michigan's (admittedly) close victory over Ball State, the third place team in the MAC, Danielson gave Florida the "advantage" for their stirring blowout victory over 2-9, 1-AA Western Carolina, whose two wins, back in September, were against something called Chowan and Eastern Kentucky (to go along with blowout losses to Elon, Wofford and Jerry Falwell's Liberty University).

Hey, I'm not saying a win over Ball State is some great accomplishment. But compared to a horrible 1-AA squad? C'mon, Gar, you're the one who brought this little bullshit ploy up so at least pretend to be balanced. Although it's too late to fix anything. The subliminal damage is already done vis a vis poll voters who just saw that graphic for the few moments it was onscreen - with all the check marks in the Gator column.

You know, I never liked Gary Danielson when he was a QB for the Lions. I just didn't think he was that good. And judging from last night, he's an even worse announcer.

Gary Danielson's a complete sell out. He's the Black Album to the Big Ten's Metallica. I don't know what the hell happened to him after he left his job with Mussy at ABC.

His politicking during the Florida game could have single-handedly cost us the 2nd place votes necessary to comfortably rank ahead of Florida. That schedule breakdown was, by far, the most irresoponsible thing I've ever seen by an analyst. To openly lobby for a team like that was so unbelievable, I literally could do nothing but shake my head and think about the inevitable letdown heading our way tomorrow night.

It's a Goddamn shame. If USC won, we'd be comfortably ranked ahead of UF - no questions asked. But since USC blew it, now everybody redneck in the country is throwing out their copy-pasted top 25 from last week, and they will proceed to place UF #2 based on bogus criteria - since, of course, Michigan being considered the second best team in the country just isn't enough anymore.

Sorry, surely he exaggerated a little, but with one sentence he was definetely right,"Style-Points should NOT decide a National Championship,Championships SHOULD"...and for that,Florida should be in.

If you ask me (seeing it from far away,because I am from Germany),the BCS System is rediculous!

I would vote for a playoff-system in which each of the conference winners and the best non-conference team would play.The team from the strongest conference plays the winner from the weakest conference in the first round and so on.

You would then only have to rate the strength of the conferences which is by far easier than deciding beetween 12-1 Teams.

I live in SEC country, and actually attended an SEC school (S.Carolina). My dad attended the Maize and Blue, and even though I couldn't afford the out-of-state tuition, I live and breath Michigan (athletics and academics).

That said, I believe I can provide unbiased commentary, unlike Gary Danielson.

First, I believe CBS should publicly apologize for Danielson's comments in the second half. I was embarassed to see such lobbying on national TV, by a "commentator." I mean, when did Danielson become Cowherd.

And I think ABC/ESPN should give an hour of time today to Brent Musberger, Brian Griese, or Herbstreit to "lobby" for Michigan.

Second, the pollsters must consider the WHOLE body of work - strength of schedule (SOS), style points, how they beat teams, how UF/UM would match up against OSU, and how each team lost.

My "unbiased" comparision:

SOS - draw (Big 10 and SEC are the 2 toughest conferences)Style - Michigan (PSU, how are your first two string QBs?)How they beat teams - Michigan (Ball State is the closest game???)Match up - who knows? - drawHow each team lost - Michigan (on the road against #1) (Auburn should have lost to S.Carolina)

I know, I know, unbiased commentary, sort of like Danielson.

As a S.Carolina alum, you don't know how many times I keep kicking myself for Soccup being cock-blocked 3x vs UF. If they had won that one, which they should have, no one could argue that UM doesn't deserve OSU again.

Show me where it says in the BCS rules that a team has to win its conference to be in the National Championship game? Quit using that illogical statement to prove a case. Michigan’s only loss was to the #1 team in the country. Florida lost to Auburn. Don’t even bother using the, “Michigan already had its shot argument” either. That one is completely illogical too. The BCS is supposed to match the two best teams together no matter what. Come up with a better argument that is actually logical and maybe I’ll listen.

Anon 5:13 - I am also a GAmecock alum and hell no, the Cocks should not have beaten Auburn. It was a close game yes, but we were clearly outcoached (rare I know) and while some folks say Rice didn;t bring his A-game, I think you'll have to give Auburn D some of that credit for Rice not catching those 2 jump ball TD passes. Cocks could have beaten UofF yes, we could have beaten a lot of teams in the same way as you say we should have beaten Auburn (add Tenn, Arky as well). The only time we didn't come up short in a final drive fopr the win was against UGA. Ball State almost beat UofM in that same identical way, but somehow everyone is forgetting that tidbit now. UofF played a DII team, yes, but they crushed them. It wasn't close, ever, even with calling off the dogs. What was it, 62-0?

I'd certainly be happy with a UofM-OSU matchup- and my guess you may get it, but I'd be excited to see UofF-OSU matchup also (which I'm hoping for).

I did think GD's comments were a overboard, but I have seen very similar (though not as plentiful in one game) comments on GameDay and in-game commentary from ABC and ESPN about the Big 10 as well.

Remember, it was rare to find a Maize & Blue fan on Sunday and Monday after The Game wanting a rematch. Again, I'd be happy to watch either game.

All this "did not win your conference" is such bullshit. Who cares? Not UM fault that OSU is the best team this year. This is team rankings; not conference position rankings. If UM is deemed second best team in US, then so be it. Even Herbstreit, of all people, said as much last night. Sucks for you, Florida when UM goes to the game...again

Jim, this is the Gamecock alum from above. I'm quite surprised to hear that you don't think USC should have beat Auburn.

The facts:USC total yards: 349Auburn total yards: 307

USC turnovers: 2Auburn turnovers: 1

USC Time of possession: 30:20Auburn Time of possession: 29:40

The final one (ToP) is the KEY stat. As everyone may recall, USC didn't run a play in the 3rd quarter, but STILL won the ToP battle. The on-side kick in the 3rd by Auburn saved USC from having a possession in that quarter.

Plus, both Kenny Irons TDs were on 4th down (and 1 yd runs)and were very questionable, thus both were reviewed.

All of that, and USC had a shot at the end of the game to tie it up (4th down failed with :19 left).

Like most Gamecock alums, I see the glass half-full, but believe that USC should have won.

Once again another ignorant reason as to why Florida had a tougher road than Michigan. Both Michigan and Vanderbilt were playing in their first game of the season. The only advantage was Michigan's home field, and everyone says, on the record no less, that the Big House it is the Quiet House. Florida had several games under their belt by the time they played Vanderbilt. Rust or Vanderbilt's chemistry is not an excuse.

As for jim,Yes, the Ball State game was not one of Michigan's finest performances, but you fail to consider that Michigan went up by 19 points and then started to substitute second and third string players into the game. Thus the scored narrowed.

Gary Danielson and all of the Florida fans do not want style points to count because they had close games all season. I shouldn’t have to list them, but here goes: Florida State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Georgia, and Tennessee.

As for Gary Danielson, of course the Big Ten looks weaker than the SEC on paper. The Big Ten had three teams win at least 7 games in the conference this year. Ohio State (8-0), Michigan (7-1), and Wisconsin (7-1) all had great seasons. When you have three teams that win 22 games and only lose 2, the standings are going to reflect a top-heavy conference. However, that does not mean that Penn State, Minnesota, and Purdue completely suck.

Unfortunately, it looks like Florida fans will probably get their wish and play Ohio State. However, I will be sticking with the BIG TEN and rooting for an Ohio State beat down of Florida. Hopefully Ohio State will expose Florida and soundly beat them by 3 touchdowns. Until then, get a clue and come up with better arguments against Michigan.

You are right. That excellent victory over Western Carolina is reason enough to give Florida a shot at the Mythical National Championship. Western Carolina is such a power-house in football. Their 2-9 record is fantastic. Maybe they should play the Buckeyes in Arizona this year?

Jim, do not come on here and proclaim a 62-0 victory over a horrible Division I-AA school as a better victory than the Ball State win. At least Ball State finished 5-7 and all of their wins were over Division I-A. That is more than Florida can say.

I fell into the same trap as everyone in here - we're comparing schedules and we only have a single common team folks are using as a barometer. We all know that's BS, but I'm as guilty as anyone else. I think OSU may win against UofF, but I think it will be closer than what you think. Of UofF and UofM, one team has already demonstarted a loss to OSU. On a neutral field, I see you playing better sure, but I wonder if OSU gives up 3 TOs without getting any in a rematch. UofF?It's probably not fair for me to argue with anyone on here as I'm only rooting for a conference, not my personal team. I hate UofF and Urban Cryer more, and I appreciate being given the opportunity to post my thoughts at this blog site. There's no doubt on my mind that UofM deserves a rematch, but UofF also desrves it. Either game wil be good to watch I'm sure - as will a LSU-UofM or SoCal-UofM Rose Bowl meeting.

If tOSU plays Fla they will destroy them and it will make all our points true.

We play USC and win and it will make all our points true.

It would suck not to play for the National Championship, yes, but to silence all the critics that say we don't play a tough enough schedule would be great.

...And we will still have a good team to look forward to next year.

With that said, I can't stand hearing Urben "Oscar" Myer trying to get votes last night on the HYPE Network by saying how tough a road they had and....their game against ARK was the "best college game of the year"!!!!!

HA-FRICKIN-HA!!! He obviously was right when he said he never saw any tape on tOSU all year. We all kow what was the best game of the year!

as much as I agree that Danielson was over the top -it was the SEC championship game - the only reason I tuned in (after 10 hours at work) was because the outcome would effect Michigan. Most people watching the game - besides Michigan and OSU fans, were SEC fans, it's not that huge of a deal

I am a Buckeye fan and, frankly, I don't want a rematch simply because IMO it would take away from The Game. That being said, I think Michigan is #2 and if Michigan played Florida, I would take you guys and give the points.

As far as Danielson goes, he truly has become a total SEC shill. Aside from that lick fest yesterday, he was on the radio here in Columbus recently and did nothing but run down the B10 and crown the SEC the Queen of Conferences. I thought Tim Brando more than filled the apparent requirement at CBS for an SEC loving tool, but it seems he isn't getting the job done well enough to suit corporate. It is a shame about Danielson who I thought was the best analyst in the booth.

Had the guy been singing Michigan's praises you'd be falling all over him.

UM couldn't even with their conference. They should not play for the national title. If a team can't even claim their own conference title they have no business saying they deserve to play for the national title. Besides, OSU already beat UM this year.

Now that USC has taken themselves out of the picture, why not the Gators instead of Michigan? Let's take a look.....

The Gators are SEC conference champions, winning it on the field in a championship game.....the Wolverines are a second-place team in their conference....advantage Gators.

Their opponents have essentially the same winning percentage, .580 for the Gators and .579 for the Michigan. But take out that lousy DI-AA Western Carolina game and the Gators' opponents have .610 winning percentage in 12 games compared to Michigan's opponents .579 in 12 games....advantage Gators.

The Gators played 10 bowl eligible teams compared to 7 for Michigan....advantage Gators.

The Gators beat three currently ranked teams (UT, LSU, Ark). After the next poll, that number will most likely be four as GT is expected to drop out and UGA will again be ranked. Michigan has beat only two ranked teams (ND, WI)....advantage Gators.

All 4 ranked teams (3 now plus UGA to be) that the Gators beat also beat other teams that are currently ranked (UT beat Cal, LSU beat UT & Ark, Ark beat UT & Auburn and UGA beat Auburn). Michigan, well, not the same. WI played nobody currently ranked except Michigan and ND only beat GT who is expected to be unranked in the next poll....advantage Gators.

In Michigan's last game, they gave up 42 point and over 500 yards of offense. They let Heisman Trophy candidate Troy Smith throw 4 touchdown passes! In the Gators last game, they held one of the most dominating running attacks in the country to about half their normal output and kept Heisman Trophy candidate Darren McFadden to his second lowest rushing output in a meaningful game....advantage Gators.

And comparisons like this could go on all night. But the bottom line is the Gators are conference champs of what is traditionally one of the toughest (if not the toughest) conference in the country and they did it on the field.

Michigan had a great season and I hope they smoke USC in the Rose Bowl, but this one goes to the Gators!

"Their opponents have essentially the same winning percentage, .580 for the Gators and .579 for the Michigan. But take out that lousy DI-AA Western Carolina game and the Gators' opponents have .610 winning percentage in 12 games compared to Michigan's opponents .579 in 12 games....advantage Gators."

How can you justify throwing out the record of a team Florida scheduled! Can Michigan throw out it's worst opponent too? No advantage here, it is a push.

And Penn State will probably be in the top 25 of the BCS rankings, so Michigan will be 3-1 against BCS top 25, same as Florida. Push.

In Florida's last game, their 4 year started fumbled twice and threw 2 interceptions. Advantage Michigan.

Yes, we could play this game all day long. The arguments lead to a push, because you can pick and choose any number of ways for your team to come out ahead. Analyzing in this manner is far too subjective, which is the argument against Danielson...

To say that Danielson is an ass is putting it mildly. Add the Urban Myth to that long list of assholes lobbying for one school or another. The CBS really isn't the problem. It's all of these 'professional' announcers with a network exec in his ear, hyping one team or another.

Congrats to Michigan on a great season, in spite of the talking heads or ESPiN and other networks. And hats off to Lloyd Carr for staying above the fray with his comments last night. That was a great show of class, something Meyer completely lacks.

Please lend your support to my Buckeyes and pray that they beat the piss out of Florida. I have no doubt that the true #2 team in the country is going to wipe that cocky smirk off of Pete Carroll's face.

I thought GD said what many were thinking and no one had the cajones to say for the last few weeks:

You simply can not ignore the champion of the toughest conference in college football, whom, like Michigan, has just one loss on the season. Florida's schedule was murder week afer week, far more difficult than Michigan's.

I admire Danielson for leveling the discussion which had been biased for Michigan ever since they got a meaningless late TD in Columbs.

You had a shot Big Blue.

You did not win your conference; you do NOT deserve a shot at the national title or "a redo" against Ohio State.

Now, go beat up on those stinkin Trojans already and pray for a split.

Believe it or not, I always root for Michigan in a bowl game or a big out of conference game, because it makes the Big 10 look stronger. I will be rooting especially hard this year because Carroll's program is as shady as the dark side of the mooon. Unfortunately, the media is in love with him and USC. And Michigan is going to absolutely CRUSH USC if they play anything like they did yesterday.

My condolences on getting jobbed by the media. What I think is funny is that no one was making a case against USC, even though they lost to an unranked team on the road and Michigan lost to the Bucks. But like I said, the media loves Slippery Pete. I think Michigan wins by 3 TD.

Keep your heads up. Michigan is going to be absolutely loaded again next year, with a Troy Smith-less OSU at home. Next year could be your year.

Thanks for staying classy, Michigan fans. We'll do the Big 10 proud and put a beatdown on that asshole Urban Meyer and his classless UF president/friend.

My favorite "push" is the Vandy games, that is total bollacks. Vandy is the only common ground we have to compare the two teams and against Vandy the Wolverines have better stats (some fairly close but better nonetheless) than Florida for rushing yards, total yards, points scored, passing yards allowed, rushing yards allowed, total yards allowed, points allowed and turnover differential against the Commodores.

The only stat where Florida out-did Michigan in the Vandy games was yards passing. That game is the closest anyone can come to making a dirct comparison between teams and Michigan comes out with better numbers for 8 of the 9 major stat categories.

And hats off to Lloyd Carr for staying above the fray with his comments last night. That was a great show of class, something Meyer completely lacks.

Thanks for the classy comments gobucks50.

Yes, I was even more impressed with Lloyd Carr last night in not politiking for UM on Sportscenter. He is a class act. And I was impressed with Tressel today in not making a vote one way or another. I think it was very classy of him to abstaine from that vote, because he would have gotten blasted either way (vote for UM and is accused of being a Big 10 homer, vote for Florida and is accused of not wanting to play UM again). He has an opinion on which team tOSU should play obviously, but I really like how he didn't let his vote influence other voters.

I'm assuming that most of the UM fans here didn't tune into the SEC championship game until after the USC game was over? Because if you'd seen the first half you'd realize that Danielson is so biased in Florida's favor that he did a similar schedule comparison between UF and USC and came out in favor of USC. Maybe he just knows a lot more about football than the rest of us and after watching SEC games for a season came to realize where the best football is played. The great thing is that if the Big Ten is the better conference, OSU will have a chance to shut all of us 'rednecks' up. So we'll find out on the field. Enjoy your trip to Pasadena!

Like most people have said, it appears that Florida is probably headed off to play OSU. I'm a bit surprised by how anyone can say that Florida is "clearly" better than Michigan based on schedule, etc... The reality is the teams are pretty damn equal.

If Florida does go I hope OSU kicks the crap out of them and I hope Michigan beats the crap out of USC.

i'm sorry the one cbs game that was viewed by big 10 folks this year displayed the same bias that abc/espn has done for usc/big 10 the last few years.

i do remember, 3 minutes after meechegan vs. ohio state, every talking head attached to abc/espn said there should be a rematch, it's what the people want. the rematch topic was brought up weeks before the stupid game was even played.

the next week, usc beat notre dame. (i hate to break it to you but, notre dame is not that good....their best win is beating georgia tech by 4 points, shitty calls included). usc whoops up on usc and i quote "the road to glendale is paved with trojans" the espn.com poll on who deserves to play ohio state didn't even include florida.

now, dear god...someone displayed a lack of objectivity when calling/giving opinions on a game with teams related to the tv station that plays their games. who would have thought?

sorry it happend to michigan this year. it's happend to plenty others in the past.

Danielson has moved to Florida since he left ABC, I'm sure the Gators will take care of good ole Gary now that he lives down there. It's amazing how quick he forgot he grew up in metro Detroit, went to Purdue and played for the Lions. If I see him I will bitch slap him.

Hold on a f****** minute here. How is this any different than Herbstreit constant d-sucking of everything USC. ESPN is owned by ABC, who I thought had a contract with PAC teams. Also, we saw the same unbridled rim job touting Notre Dame by Herby, saying they should still play in a bowl game despite their 20+ loss to USC.

If Danielson went overboard on Saturday, it wasn't much more than these other inept announcers spout off.

By the way, I hate Florida. I'm an FSU fan living in Orlando and can't wait for the matchup with those baby blue west coast softies.

I gotta echo the FSU fan. Most of the media at ESPN have a Big 10 background. Yes, Danielson pushed for Florida during the SEC Championship game. But, ESPN pushed for Michigan and OSU for how many weeks before that game? And if that's not bad enough check out the ESPN Classic schedule sometime. They're hyping the teams that are playing on their networks. They used to replay classic games of any teams meeting that week but now it's just Big 10, Pac 10 and ND. That's really all CBS did.

The media, in my view, is the #1 reason we need a playoff. They have way, way too much influence on the outcome of something they're supposed to be reporting on.

He is still ranting his case on WDFN after yesterday's bullshit rant on WXYT... what an bais asshole. He has an huge chip on his shoulder. Now trying to dig his tarnished name in the state of Michigan out of the hole he dug on Saturday night. I hope we loses his CBS SEC job, his graphic analysis was unbelievable...

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